2026 Steering Committee

Dr. Halle Cheeseman serves as a Program Director at the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) with a focus on batteries and other electrochemical devices.
Before ARPA-E, Dr. Cheeseman served as CTO & head of Research, Development & Engineering for two large battery companies, Exide Technologies and Spectrum Brands. Dr. Cheeseman directed R&D groups working on cutting-edge lithium ion and zinc-air batteries and re-envisioned lead-acid batteries. Dr. Cheeseman was a thought leader for multiple product categories, including high-power battery packs and chargers. Dr. Cheeseman also served as director for lithium-ion product development at Duracell, Inc., vice president of engineering and product development at Encell Technology, Inc., and an energy storage consultant at Energy Blues LLC.

Dr. Cheeseman received a Bachelor of Science with Honors in Chemistry and Materials Science and a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom. His Ph.D. focused on the corrosion and electrochemistry of rocket oxidizers.

Keri Goodwin is currently a Chief Technologist at CPI and has 15 years of materials chemistry research experience.  She received an MChem and PhD from the University of Edinburgh before beginning her career at CPI in 2009.  During this time she worked in the printable electronics division of CPI for 8 years and lead the electronic materials development team, publishing several papers and patents relating to this work.  This was primarily focused on organic semiconducting materials and formulation development for flexible display applications.  She now leads the battery materials and formulation development area as part of the National Formulation Centre, within CPI. Her expertise lies in materials development for electronic applications as well as optimisation of coatings and interfaces using a variety of depositon techniques, both solution and vacuum based.

• David started his automotive industry career in 1975 with Jaguar Cars in Coventry as a sponsored student-apprentice with the company while studying for mechanical Engineering degree at Lanchester Polytechnic (now Coventry University). He joined the Vehicle Research department of Product Engineering after graduation in 1979 and went on to develop the team that was responsible for the noise and vibration refinement of the all-new AJ6 engine and the XJ40 car – Jaguar’s first all-new vehicle in 30 years.
• Subsequently David spent significant time working in Far East and USA in technical and managerial consulting roles before joining Tata Motors European Technical Centre in 2008, David spent 3 years based in Pune, India running the NVH team, later taking lead role as Programme Chief Engineer for several new vehicle projects delivered for Tata Motors based from the European Technical Centre at University of Warwick.
• Now responsible for leading strategy and engineering development of low-carbon powertrain technologies (ICE/xEV) and early-stage vehicle attribute delivery for Tata Motors future passenger car product portfolio.

Jacqui Murray is the Director of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult for South Wales. Her background is in the Welsh steel industry, environmental regulation, UK battery and advanced materials innovation. Jacqui’s role is to ensure Wales has exceptional links to the entire HVMC network, provide leadership to Welsh manufacturing at a strategic level and through a digital factory hub inspire a greater adoption of digital and automation tools increase productivity.

She continues as chair of the £65m SmartNanoNI Advisory Group and previously held the positions of Chief Operating Officer of the National Manufacturing Institute Scotland (NMIS) and Deputy Director of the £611m million Faraday Battery Challenge, where she helped lead government investment to develop batteries that are cost-effective, high-quality, durable, safe, low-weight and recyclable. She is a member of the UK Government Battery Taskforce. Non-Executive Director at a startup making sustainable, high performance nano materials for batteries.

Jacqui continues to advocate for diversity and inclusion in engineering and the positive impact that manufacturing brings to our communities and the UK.

Nikki Rimmington has more than 25 years of experience in the automotive and battery sectors and is now shaping the strategic direction of Volklec as Head of Strategy.

With a background in engineering, strategy, finance and product lifecycle planning, Nikki has held senior positions at Aston Martin and InoBat, driving major product and strategic initiatives. At Volklec, Nikki leads the company’s fast-to-market approach, leveraging proven technology to mobilise UK battery manufacturing.

Richard is a visionary leader and entrepreneur at the forefront of the energy transition. As the CEO of Battery Britain, Founder of Green Lithium and Chairman of the Institute of Directors Natural Resource Group, he is driving positive change. Battery Britain is a unified deal-making platform uniting the UK Battery Supply Chain, and Green Lithium is pioneering the construction of the UK’s first lithium refinery.

Dr. Ulderico Ulissi manages the team in charge of oversea technology scouting and technical due diligence at 21C Lab, the research arm of CATL. Before that, he worked in consulting and market research. He held technical roles as at Nissan Motor, where he was the European technical lead for research in energy storage technologies, and as a senior scientist at OXIS Energy Ltd., where he managed the design of a pre-A-sample cell for customer delivery. He was awarded his doctorate in chemistry in 2017 from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, and he holds both a BSc and an MSc in industrial chemistry from Sapienza, University of Rome. He has authored 19 scientific publications, 5 patents, and 1 book on energy storage technologies.

Tom Wadsworth serves as Director of Business Development at Ecobat Solutions, where he drives the company’s commercial strategy in the UK with a strong focus on securing lithium-ion battery feedstock for Ecobat’s recycling facilities. He also plays a key role in shaping and executing Ecobat’s UK strategy, developing new customer relationships, and supporting the marketing of the diverse products produced across Ecobat’s operations.

Tom brings more than 15 years of leadership experience in the global battery industry. His career spans North America, where he spent seven years, and the APAC region, where he spent over five. Before joining Ecobat, Tom held the role of Global Product Director at Li-Cycle, a leading critical materials recovery company. Earlier, he spent 12 years with Fujitsu in its battery manufacturing division, building deep expertise across product, operations, and international markets.

Tom holds a bachelor’s degree in Management from Leeds Beckett University.